The Potato Sled

My husband, Jim grew up in the country in rural Arkansas. Jim, his mother, father, older sister and younger brother lived with his mother’s parents. They owned about three hundred and eighty acres of land that sustained the whole family. This is one memory of growing up.

Living on a farm was hard work for all members of the family. Even the children helped with the chores. During potato harvest, “Jimmy” was required to help. As a way of gathering the crop of potatoes a “potato sled” pulled by a mule (seen in photo) made its way down the long rows of potatoes that were dug up from the ground.

It was Jim’s responsibility to gather the freshly dug potatoes in a basket and move them into the sled. Once the sled was full the mule would pull the sled over to the barn where the potatoes would be placed onto straw and the sled would return to the potato rows to be filled once more.

Listen to Jim’s description of the dreaded potato harvest done in the heat of the summer.